The owner of Canary Wharf, home to some of Britain's biggest banks, has taken out injunctions to stop camps being set up by protesters targeting the City of London.

Metal fences and signs warning potential demonstrators to stay out have appeared at the skyscraper-filled complex in London's Docklands and also at Broadgate, an office and retail area three miles west in the City.

Canary Wharf is where HSBC, Citigroup and Barclays are located. It was home to failed investment bank Lehman Brothers before it went bust in 2008.

The injunctions follow a similar response from the managers of Paternoster Square, home to the London Stock Exchange next to St Paul's Cathedral, and the Guildhall, where the City of London Corporation is based. Rings of steel have been erected around their buildings.

Paternoster Square, the original target of the protesters now at St Paul's, took out a pre-emptive injunction before the Occupy demonstration began on 15 October. The square is now only open to people working there. A City of London Corporation report said some businesses had lost 90% of revenue because of the square's closure.

A spokesman for Canary Wharf said the injunction had been sought in the high court on Monday due to press speculation and chatter on social networks over the previous week suggesting Occupy London was about to try to create a new camp at London's second main financial centre.

Occupy London put out a statement saying they have "conducted ourselves with order and dignity throughout, as has been recognised by all sides" at St Paul's.

The protesters described Canary Wharf as "an absurdly over-securitised place, lacking all social amenities, save those of work and consumerism".

They added: "Like much of London, Canary Wharf is privately owned, but its character is the result of a deliberate attempt to create a 'public space' in which the public is not welcome."

Canary Wharf defended its legal action, saying it wanted to ensure workers were "able to go about their normal day-to-day activities without interruption".

"Following recent disruption in the City, we have obtained this injunction to prevent similar disruption by a small group of people to the 95,000 people working at Canary Wharf or to those people choosing to visit the estate," a spokesman said. "The injunction is not about stifling debate."

British Land, owner of Broadgate, said, "Broadgate has taken the precautionary step of serving an injunction to prevent potential disruption to visitors and workers."

At an informal City of London Corporation meeting on Thursday, the town clerk said it was time for "jaw jaw, not law law" after the corporation backed down from the brink of demanding the camp's eviction and decided to enter into talks with protesters.

One source who was at the meeting said the occupation had shaken the corporation as its members were not used to public attention. The Guardian has learned that the corporation is planning to bring in a public relations agency to help make responses to the public.

Occupy activists say they are taking responsibility for problems caused by the camp's presence, such as defecation around cathedral property and alcoholism, and have called on charities and third party agencies to lend their expertise.

Occupy member Ronan McNern said the camp had become a "beacon for the vulnerable" because of the free food on offer as well as the relative security the camp provided for rough sleepers.

McNern said the camp had decided to seek help partly because the cathedral authorities were at the "end of their tether" after they found faeces beside the cathedral steps on Thursday morning. Urination on the cathedral grounds has also been a major issue despite a number of portable toilets in the area.

After a mainly peaceful day-long protest by thousands of demonstrators in Oakland, California, several hundred people rallied through the night, painting graffiti, breaking windows and setting fire to rubbish